Warning!!

Wow, so, anyone else remembers what it feels like to read a post from me? No? Me neither... Well, that is, I forgot how it is to write, apparently. This is much overdue, but thankfully since I have an abundance of free time, and I do not particularly wish to pack just yet, you will get several updates today! The first is London, next is Germany, and finally it will be Christmas/New Year's. Enjoy, because there's going to be a lot to read!!

Love,

Janean X

A long, Long, LONG Overdue Update!

Hey everyone! An update is finally here!

I'm so sorry it took so long, but I hope you enjoy!

Cheers!

Janean X

Scotland Photos!

Well ladies and gents, it's finally happened! It took me a month, but I have finished weeding through 952 photos to bring you three albums of Stephen's and my Scotland adventure.

The first album (conveniently titled "Scotland Part 1") consists of photos taken while on our bus tour. Some of the sights include the town of Moffat which is home to the world's thinnest hotel, Holyrood Palace and street sights in Edinburgh. The link for these photos are below:
http://s1105.photobucket.com/albums/h349/jlowenberger/Scotland%20Part%20One/

The second album is solely from the world renowned military tattoo at Edinburgh Castle, which takes place there annually. There were several different acts there from Scottish pipes and drums and dancers to the US Navy band, Australians, Danish and Norwegian bands as well! The link for these photos are below:
http://s1105.photobucket.com/albums/h349/jlowenberger/Scotland%20Military%20Tattoo/

The final album is from our touring of the Loch Lomond National Park. The first half is from a self-guided tour we took with Stephen's brother, his girlfriend, and a couple of friends (who were our gracious hosts for our stay). The second half, starting with the orange bus, are from our Loch Lomond trip that we booked through the Hairy Coo touring company - which can be found at http://www.thehairycoo.com/

This company is a small business that packs a powerful punch. The deal is you reserve your spot for one pound, and at the end of the trip pay what you believe the tour was worth. You not only get to see the "big" sights, like Sterling Castle, but you also get to see lesser traveled places like Queen Elizabeth Forest or Doune Castle, where the castle scenes from Monty Python and the Holy Grail was filmed! The link for the final leg of our tour can be found below once more:
http://s1105.photobucket.com/albums/h349/jlowenberger/Scotland%20Part%20Two/

I hope you enjoy looking through the photos as much as we enjoyed taking them. If you have any questions regarding anything you see in the photos, feel free to leave a comment on this blog, Facebook or by email and I would be more than happy to get back to you as soon as I am available.

Lots of love!

Cheers!

Janean X

This Is A Test

Hi everyone!!

This blog today is a test. For what, you ask? A surprise! Check it out below, and if this works, it might be something I do every now and again when I can't be asked to write something out.

I hope you enjoy!

Cheers!

Love,

Janean X

York Trip

As some of you might know, Stephen attends York St. John University, located an hour to an hour and a half from his home in Bradford, and about the same distance (probably a little bit closer to the two hour mark) from my university in Sunderland. The week prior to moving up to Sunderland, I bugged Stephen to take me up to York so I could so some sight seeing and shopping (you caught me, I didn’t take my camera – you know I was there to shop!). Our day was the adventure, which is really the only reason I’m relating it to you, as it did not have an abundance of sightseeing.

Our day started well enough – we were up early, had some breakfast and were taken to Shipley (a smaller, more convenient station) by Stephen’s Mum. Once we arrived at the station however, our troubles began. Stephen thought we were in great earnest, and decided it was best if we sprinted to the ticket office so we didn’t miss the train. With frantic thoughts in our minds we ran up two flights of stairs, over the tracks, down two flights of stairs, and across the parking lot to arrive breathlessly at the ticket office. Stephen ordered us two tickets for Leeds and we paid while the tickets printed. Note the inconsistency: Leeds. Leeds is not York. As it goes, Leeds is where you change trains to get to York. Stephen quickly explained his mistake to the ticket-master, and is told that we can simply extend our tickets when we get to Leeds. We enjoy a peaceful ride to Leeds, where we exit the platforms to go to the ticket office and straighten ourselves out.

Tidbit for you: when you exit a platform at a train station in the UK, you put your ticket to that destination in a terminal that opens its doors to let you out. There are a good few of these terminals so at peak traffic hours no one is held up. Keep this information in mind, you’ll need it soon.

When we get to the ticket station in Leeds, the extension of our tickets seems to be no trouble at all, just a lengthy project. Just as the woman prints off our tickets, she takes a closer look at our “incorrect” tickets. She proceeds to tells us that we need both of the tickets we incorrectly purchased in Shipley for our new tickets to be valid. Cue looks of horror from Stephen and myself. Why? Refer to tidbit above.

Returning back to the terminals, we find two young men who let us through and open the ticket compartments for us to manually search for our tickets. I wish I were kidding. We go through tickets from four terminals and manage to find Stephen’s ticket, but not my own (I found his, just in case you were wondering). One steward notices our discouragement and takes us to the head of security who simply tells us to explain the situation to the ticket keepers on the train. Why couldn’t the lady at the desk have told us to do that? Too easy.

When all our train shenanigans were over and done with, Stephen and I headed to the city centre in York so that I could get my shop on. My highlight of the day, however, was when we finally stopped for lunch, which I believe was at about 2 o’clock in the afternoon. Stephen insisted that he had to take me to Betty’s Tea Room. For those of you who do not know, Betty’s Tea Room is one of the major attractions of York, there is consistently a line to get a seat. We were going to go earlier, closer to noon, but the line was quite long and we weren’t very hungry yet. When we did finally decide to go, we only had about a fifteen-minute wait. Okay, correction, I had a fifteen-minute wait while Stephen went to go get a snack from another store. Regardless, we queued as the British love to do, and when we got to the front of the line were told we would be seated downstairs. This was a stroke of luck for us because Stephen had told me beforehand that it is the downstairs he wanted to show me.

After receiving our menus and looking at the prices (let me warn you, they are high! If you are going to eat at Betty’s, make it a snack, not a meal – unless you’re rich, then you can eat all you want!), Stephen told me to follow him toward the bathrooms. In between the gents and ladies’ toilets there is a mirror wall. This wall has been preserved since the Second World War. On this wall are names of men from several different battalions who had visited Betty’s while they were stationed abroad. Apparently the do of the times was to bring your steady and have a spot of tea. I was overcome with nostalgia (it must be a collective nostalgia, for how can I remember the War?) and started to tear up, thinking that maybe my Grandfather had visited here before he went to France.

Stephen and I learned so much about the history of Betty’s (we stayed at least an hour and a half, talking to hostesses and waitresses about the food, the beverages, the history) and I came away feeling like my day was not just about spending money. It was a treat to be able to step back in time and fully appreciate the simplicity of an English lunch.

So, that’s it for this post! I just wanted to relate our silly adventure story, and to leave you with a heart warming bit at the end about a place where I really recommend anyone and everyone to go. As I have noted, it is expensive, but if you keep that in mind when you plan on visiting and you have a snack beforehand, you can still enjoy the atmosphere and delightful food and drink!

Take care!

Love,

Janean X     

Brontë Parsonage

Stephen, his father, and I all set out for the Brontë Parsonage on a lovely afternoon. It was sunny and warm, not the usual English weather, but it was such a lovely change, almost like the weather knew we were on an adventure, and accommodated us for our outing. Instead of just driving to parsonage as a normal North American would, we decided to really revel in the era they would have known. To begin our adventure, we drove to a town called Keighley (pronounced KEEF-lee for all us North American folk). It was here that we caught a steam train that would take us to Howarth, the town where the Brontës are officially from (although now both of these towns are part of Bradford). Travelling on this train was absolutely delightful, especially for someone like myself who is so unused to travelling by train. While the journey was slow, it was definitely a lovely experience to see the countryside as someone in the earlier eras had done, and was the beginning of our trip back in time.

Upon arriving at the Howarth station, we came out of the station to a lovely hilly view – the real Yorkshire countryside. It was absolutely lovely: lush and green, and it all looked so historic, minus the single wind turbine they had on one of the hills. We turned right coming out of the station and crossed a wooden bridge that went over the tracks. We all waved at the conductor as the train continued down the line, and made our way up the first of two hills. This first hill almost seemed like a back alley as there was absolutely no traffic other than pedestrians. This road ran alongside a beautiful garden area that we explored on our way back down to the train station after we had finished. We then crossed a main road, and came to our next hill, the road that would lead us to the parsonage. This road was quite steeper than the first, and the further we went up, the narrower the road became!

We took a detour around the church where Mr. Brontë had been the parson, and read a quaint sign that told us that after all the Brontës had passed away, they were moved into a crypt beneath the church, as this was a place of honour for the family. The church was undergoing construction/upkeep, so we were not allowed to venture inside. I also made friends with a cat while in the cemetery, a point that is of no importance, but I thought I should tell you anyway, just in case there are a few random pictures of cats in the album for this post!

The parsonage was originally quite large for a house of it’s time, but this would have been indicative of the parson’s esteemed position. You can also see that an extension was added on at a later time when looking at the house from the front (I believe I do have a picture of this), as it is the very far right side of the house (your right, not the house’s right). I definitely recommend that you take your student card if you are a student as you will get a little bit of a discounted rate, seniors pricing is also a little lower. That being said, the pricing is still quite high, but if you really want to see the parsonage, I’m sure you wouldn’t mind.

After paying you are given a brochure that acts as a tour guide, and are left to your own devices as you wander room to room. There were a few attendants present, but they are mostly there to remind you not to take photos, and to show you the correct way out of the parsonage. You really did get a good feel for the times in this house. Hollywood’s most recent production of “Jane Eyre” (2011) with Mia Wasikowska (Alice from Tim Burton’s “Alice in Wonderland”) has loaned their costumes to the parsonage and these were on display in quite a few rooms that we viewed.

A sense of morbidity settled over you quite quickly after entering the building, despite the nice touch of the donated costumes from Hollywood – there was no glimmer. Due to the parsonage having obtained original artifacts for the rooms (it was a very long process, I’m sure), all the shutters had to be closed, and there was only minimal, low lighting to preserve the artifacts (this is why we could not take photos, as well). The real sense of morbidity set over you upon entering the second room. Each room has plaques describing items and daily events that would have taken place there, which is further supplemented by your tour brochure that you were given at the door. Well, in this second room one of the plaques states that Charlotte Brontë died in the room, most likely on the sofa! Let me tell you that sure set the mood for the remainder of the tour!

Now fortunately, each room did not get progressively worse, but each room contained another sad fact of the Brontës’ unfortunate existence. Through the course of discovering the parsonage I had learned that: one sister had died in the study, the son was seen as a failure of an artist and removed himself from a portrait he painted of himself and his sisters, that Charlotte died in the early months of pregnancy (she was the only sister who lived long enough to get married), that Emily died from catching tuberculosis while she was off teaching, that Anne also caught the disease and Charlotte had to bury her in Scarborough while on their way to find a cure for her at the seaside, that the sole son ended up being accused of adultery with a wealthy woman who would not marry him after her husband died and so became and alcoholic, drinking himself to death, and that finally, Mr. Brontë, the father, outlived all of his children and of course, his wife.

Of course I had known that the Brontë story was not a romantic story, but the extent to which this poor family suffered was unbelievable. To put their life in perspective though, it wasn’t uncommon in the area that families died young as there was poor water and sewage systems in the area – something the parson tried hard to change in his time. What might have further compound the macabre life the Brontës’ had to lead would be that their house not only looked upon the church, but also the (now) overcrowded graveyard. The high death rate at the time due to poor living conditions and medicine that had not yet advanced were shown clearly through the high activity in the graveyard everyday. The constant sound of the gravedigger’s shovel and of the hammer on stone engraving names on the tombs would be a constant reminder of the eventuality of death, and not overly reassuring sounds. It is no wonder that instead, the sisters chose instead to look out the back window for inspiration, where the moors, which were so often depicted in their literature, stood, waiting for imaginary exploration.

The moors were what brought we three travellers some relief from the sad story of the Brontës’ lives. When we exited the parsonage (the additional extension was used to show bits of the Brontës’ art and writing, items that were used as inspiration, and of course, costumes!) through the gift shop, we were greeted with a modern view of the moors, and took a stroll through the parsonage gardens which was separated from a farm by one of the frequently seen stone walls. To cheer ourselves up after the tour, we took advantage of an old style sweets shop located on the top of the descent from the street below (the ever-narrowing street, if you remember me talking about that). We reminisced with sweets from all three of our youths and seemed to sweeten the previous mood, pun intended.

On our way home we toured the gardens that we passed on the first hill up that I had previously mentioned, but there was nothing much extraordinary about them. We took our time walking, enjoying our sweets, and just managed to catch the last train back. As we stepped onto the Victorian at Keighley, our time travel experience came to an end.

It certainly was a magical day in the sense that we experienced life as it was during the Brontës’ lifetime, but it made me so thankful to be living now rather than then.

Scotia: The Land of the Brave

For those of you who haven’t heard of, or viewed, the movie “Brave,” I must start off this blog by telling you it was this movie (from Disney Pixar) that further solidified my romantic notions of Scotland. The United Kingdom has been the only place that I’ve desperately wanted to travel to my entire life due to the fact that the majority of my ancestors were from this small little island (thanks, colonialism!). Watching the sassy redheaded lass made it very easy for me to put myself where she was: majestic, magical Scotland, the home of the noble and brave. This was a trip I couldn’t wait to take, and to be quite honest, that I can’t wait to make again!

Our first day we encountered a little bit of adventure in finding the bus stop – we were to meet in this little village that has only one main road, but no coach bus stop. Eventually, we found a coach along the main road that was dropping off other passengers going on the same trip, so we were in luck and stuck with these people. The first stop on our tour was a town called Moffatt. This is going to sound incredibly horrible of me, but I don’t think this particular town is famous for much, other than it is home to the world’s skinniest hotel, The Star Hotel. There was also a very large St. Andrew’s Church of England, but for the most part, these were the only interesting bits that we discovered. Had we more time, I’m sure we would’ve found many more exciting things.

Our first evening was spent in Glasgow. Supper was included in our coach tour guide tickets, and was quite the meal. While it was nothing out of the ordinary, the food was done fantastically well. Immediately after supper, Stephen and I left the hotel to go bowling with his brother Mark, his girlfriend Daisy, and Mark’s friend who is also named Mark.

Saturday was quite an exciting day. We made our way to Edinburgh first thing in the morning. We had opted in for the tour of Hollyrood Palace, which the coach tour booked for us, and we had a lovely, if not somewhat macabre look at this palace. The view, as you will eventually see from my pictures, was excellent. I definitely understand why the royals would want to live there. After our tour of Hollyrood, we were left to wander Edinburgh until the Tattoo in the evening. At this particular time in Edinburgh there were about six or seven different festivals going on, so it was extremely crowded in the city, and Stephen and I found food and drink to be quite expensive, but we realize that this is the way of things in almost all capital cities, and so as a note to you: expect high prices in capital cities!

Right after supper we met up with our bus group again so that we would be taken to Edinburgh castle. We made our way up the hill (and boy, is it some hill!) to queue for about an hour before we were let into the grounds. To give you an idea of how big the Tattoo area is, a fellow that we had met one morning before we jumped on the train told us that he remembers when you used to be able to drive up the hill and park your car right outside of the gate – so there you go, it’s a parking lot! That being said, it is now a parking lot with grandstand bleachers on three sides of it, with obviously the fourth side being the castle. With a blaze from the cannon to start off the festivities (and deafening me in one ear for the majority of the show) we watched the various acts that had performers from all over the United Kingdom, The Netherlands, Australia, Canada and the United States as well! I honestly can’t describe the performance to you other than breathtaking. It was absolutely astounding!

Sunday (as the third day turned out to be), rather than staying on with the group we spent the night with the two Marks in Falkirk. We were welcomed most graciously, and ended up saving money by staying with Mark (friend, not brother) and his girlfriend Nadia. On Sunday during the day the two Marks, the girlfriends, and Stephen and I trekked up to Loch Lomond and had a picnic. We then cruised around the countryside, stopping whenever a picture called to us. It was so lovely being able to stop and start as we wanted, knowing that we were in no particular rush.

Monday was the famous “Hairy Coo” tour. This tour was actually recommended to us by friends (who live in Canada!) before we left, and we were not disappointed at all! While we did go to Loch Lomond just as we had the day before, our tour guide took us to several places that we didn’t see. We stopped near the Firth of Fourth bridge, which I don’t think is what the bridge is actually called, but the tour guide was saying how as kids they learned it was the Fourth Bridge, but that it also has something to do with Firth… So I got it confused in my head, too… Oops! We then stopped off down the hill from Sterling Castle (which Stephen is convinced, again, dues to our lovely bus driver, that it looks “just like” Edinburgh Castle) and were given props like the Scottish flag, and “Hairy Coo” hats.

Our next stop was the Wallace Monument. As I am sure most of you know “Braveheart,” let me assure you that William Wallace was not a pip-squeak like Mel Gibson. Apparently, this guy was a giant among men in his day, and I guess to prove it, the monument is at the top of a massive hill. What is going to sound crazy about this part of the tour is that the climb up was easy, but the way down was another story. Stephen and I decided we were going to go the scenic way because no one was walking down those paths, and we enjoyed the lovely hillside scenery. So we ended up going down the opposite side of the hill we came up – probably should have been warning sign number one, but the paths were clearly marked so we continued. Now our bus driver, who was an absolute gem by the way (knew his stuff, was willing to make fun of his country, drove the bus exceedingly well while giving the tour and was very interactive and approachable), had told us before we left to meet back at the bus at a certain time. I’m sure you can imagine my panic when we are now on the opposite side of the hill, and instead of going downhill we are somehow working our way up! Needless to say I was at wit’s end when we finally came to the road that would lead us down to the bus stop. That was certainly enough adventure for me.

Our next stop was after a drive through the Lomond Valley area (I don’t actually know what it is called, so I am calling it that myself). We stopped off to view the valley from a vantage point in Queen Elizabeth Forest Park. You’ll see some of the views in the pictures, but you’ll also see a picture of our tour guide, Jonathan, with Stephen and I. Directly following this stop, we found our way to a quaint little farm. I assume this farm was actually made into a bed and breakfast because the house on the land was absolutely massive (but wouldn’t you know it, this idiot didn’t take a picture of it!), and I can’t imagine someone not making use of the four billion other rooms that they wouldn’t use in such a house!

The reason I forgot to get a picture of this massive estate was due to the excitement of getting to feed the animals that the tour bus was named after: the hairy coos! You’ll see from the pictures I will post that “coos” are cows, for those of us that can actually speak English, but these cows are where the name of the tour came from, and also the unique design of the buses. We were all given pieces of bread to feed the cows, so in one or two of the pictures you might see people you don’t know (nor do Stephen and I know, for that matter) feeding the cows, simply so we could try and capture the essence of the activity that we were doing.

Our second last stop in our fun filled day was Loch Katrine. While there was not much for us to do here other than to take a few pictures, it was a very beautiful lake. We only had about half an hour, and did not think it was in our best interests to rent a bike for such a short amount of time. That being said, this lake was what inspired Sir Walter Scott to write “Lady of the Lake,” and was actually a destination that Queen Victoria herself visited, making it quite the tourist attraction in those days.

Our final destination on the day was really a perfect ending to a day that, despite the gloomy weather, had been filled with camaraderie and fun. Our final stop was at Doune Castle. While the name itself is quite unremarkable, as is the building, really, for those of you who are familiar with the great Monty Python, this will be of interest to you. At this castle, as beaten down and unremarkable as it is, was the castle that you see during the “European vs. African swallow” scene at the castle wall. The reason this particular castle was used was because it was the cheapest castle they could afford on their budget. In testament to Monty Python we were given coconut shells to bang together while we trotted our “horses” up and down the entrance path to the castle.

Sadly to say, these were the extent of our adventures in Scotland, although I do think that for now, they will do as a starting point. Our last day in Edinburgh we mostly shopped, although we did pop into the Writer’s Museum, just so that we could say we had been there. I truly believe that Edinburgh is a fantastic city, but if I were to recommend it to others, I would stay in a hotel that is not in Edinburgh, pack my own lunches, and check all sorts of calendars to ensure that I was not scheduling my stay at the same time as a festival. I have to say that the amount of people was really the only thing that put a damper on my time in Edinburgh. As some of you might know I have spent time in New York City, but Edinburgh at this particular time of the year was at least five times worse. If you don’t mind not being able to maneuver very well, then I guess this doesn’t really apply to you, but for me I was not expecting it, and therefore did not enjoy it!

I hope you guys enjoyed this blog… I’m working on three more currently: Brontë Parsonage, York trip, and a general first impression of Sunderland. You might want to look for them in the next few days because my roommates also blog, so I’ve caught the bug and they are forcing me to keep with it (inadvertently of course, because whenever I see them post a blog I think, “Oh, I should do that too!”).

I’m glad you made it through this one, and hope you’re looking forward to the next one as much as I am looking forward to telling it!

Loads of love,

Janean X